Can China make real changes in media policies for Tibet?

Has the Chinese government learned a public
relations lesson from its handling of the unrest in Tibet last year?

James Fallows noted in The
Atlanticthat CNN and BBC reports revisiting the often-violent
relations between Tibetans and Han Chinese were being broadcast unfiltered on
the Chinese mainland. Fallows also linked to an unexpectedly subtle repudiation
of the Dalai Lama printed in the China
Daily. The state mouthpiece displays a firm grasp of public relations
in its article. Indeed, publicity is the core of its argument.

"You are no ordinary publicist. ... That is why your
apparent innocence and sensational stories of Tibet's past and present have sold
so well--to some audiences," the paper writes, addressing the Dalai Lama. "May
we suggest that Your Holiness use a little more evidence when dealing with the
press? Your Holiness must know the media are thirsty for sensation. So please
do not be shy to be more specific next time around."

Wait a minute. "More evidence" when dealing with the press?
That's our
line!

There are also signs that the more neutral term "Dalai
group" is being used at least occasionally in place of the absurd-sounding
"Dalai clique" as the English translation of choice for the phrase dalai jituan, which describes His
Holiness and supporters in official Chinese government discourse. A Google
search finds 1,600 references to "Dalai group," almost all of which have appeared
since March 2008.

But do changes in media tactics signal a genuine change in
media policy? Not so far. Tensions mounted in the weeks prior to Tuesday's
anniversary of the failed antigovernment uprising that sparked rioting this
time last year.

International reporters--who are legally allowed to interview
anyone who consents in China--are
still not allowed into the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Police obstructed Agence
France-Presse reporters for two consecutive days this week in Tibetan parts
of northwestern Qinghai
province; The Associated Press was ordered out of a city in a predominantly
Tibetan area on Monday.

Several correspondents have blogged about their experiences.
The BBC's James
Reynolds cut short a visit to the Tibetan plateau after being tipped off
that police were on their way, according to his Wednesday post. The same day Malcolm
Moore, a Shanghai-based reporter for the British Daily Telegraph, published a Foreign Correspondent's Club of China (FCCC)
statement. Journalists with at least six international news organizations have
been detained or harassed while reporting on Tibet, according to the FCCC.
Public Security Bureau officials detained New
York Times reporters Edward Wong and Jonathan Ansfield in GansuProvince
on February 27 for 20 hours, the statement says.

If things are bad for the foreigners, conditions for locals
are worse. High
Peaks Pure Earth, which publishes English translations of Chinese and
Tibetan-language blog posts from the region, has seen nearly all of its sources
rendered inaccessible in the space of a week. The blog host Tibetan Culture Net
replaced its usual content with a notice
announcing a one-day maintenance closure on March 5, but a week later the site remains
inactive. Another site now shuttered had hosted the blog of the Tibetan TV
editor and news producer Jamyang
Kyi, according to High
Peaks. Jamyang Kyi, who studied
news broadcasting as a visiting scholar at New York's
ColumbiaUniversity in 2006, was arrested in
April 2008 for reasons that were not publicized. She was never charged, and the
date of her eventual release was not reported. She remains under surveillance,
according to Tibetan groups.

CPJ's 2008 prison
census records two other Tibetan journalists missing since their arrests
last year. The whereabouts of another Tibetan TV journalist arrested in
September, Rangjung (many Tibetans use one name), are still unknown. Dhondup
Wangchen, a filmmaker, shot a moving documentary exploring life under Tibetan
rule in the run-up to the Olympics. While friends in China delivered his footage to an overseas-based
film company, Filming for Tibet,
the director and his assistant disappeared and were later seen in police
custody, according to the film company and Tibetan advocacy groups. The assistant
was later released, but not so for Dhondup Wangchen.

The arrests took place just days before last year's rioting
erupted, in the kind of high-security environment that is again dominating the
region. In this clip
from the film, Dhondup Wangchen holds a Chinese newspaper dated March 10, 2008,
to the camera. An Olympic athlete waving the Chinese flag is visible in the
corner.

"We are close to finishing our project," he narrates in Tibetan.
"Our footage is ready, either tomorrow or the day after, to be taken to China. My aim ...
is not to make a famous or a particularly entertaining film. This film is about
the plight of the Tibetan people, helpless and frustrated." That final image of
the filmmaker earnestly addressing the camera is the last we have seenof him. One year later, his wife and
children in Dharamsala, India, have yet to be informed of
his location or whether he has been charged.

Releasing a journalist imprisoned for publicizing events in Tibet--that
would be a genuine and meaningful public relations move. It's a step Chinese
authorities should consider.

Madeline Earp is senior researcher for CPJ’s Asia Program. She has studied Mandarin in China and Taiwan, and graduated with a master’s in East Asian studies from Harvard. Follow her on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.

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